1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of culinary equipment and more particularly to a novel motorized fork having the automatic ability to controllably twist while in the user's hand for the collection of a pasta food product thereon preparatory to eating the food.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the past, it has been the conventional practice to use a fork placed in the hand of the user whereby the user's hand is turned and twisted so as to gather food, such as spaghetti, pasta or the like onto the tines of the fork. Once the gathering has been completed, the fork is then lifted and the food consumed from its collected state on the end of the fork. The conventional fork includes an end carrying the tines and an elongated handle portion which is conveniently placed in the hand of the user. There is no separation or relative movement between the parts of the fork so that the only twisting motion is done by the wrist and hand of the user.
Although some attempts may have been made to employ an automatic twisting arrangement for the fork tines, problems and difficulties are oftentimes encountered which stem largely from the fact that the fork tines' turning or twisting movement is restricted while the user raises the implement to his mouth to consume the collected food. Obviously, once the twist has been made, the food must be retained on the fork tines and no twisting or turning or rotational movement may be tolerated while the implement is being raised to the mouth of the user. Otherwise, the collected food will bed dislodged, causing embarrassment to the user.
Automatic means for effecting twist or rotation of the fork tines should also include a means for releasably fixing the tines in a particular location so that collected food will not be so dislodged. Also, the rotation or twisting of the fork tines is oftentimes difficult on conventional forks inasmuch as the length of the tines is all the same so that an effective central pivot is not afforded to the implement. Furthermore, even prior devices which convert linear movement into rotary movement require manual plunging or pushing of the forked end into a plate of the food product. This procedure requires a visual coordination to follow collection of the food product on the forked end.
Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide an automatic means under motor control for turning the tined end of a fork so that manual operation of the turning and twisting of the forked end is avoided.